The Secretary Desk of Dreams

This blog post is sponsored by Dutch Boy® Paints. All opinions are my own.

Another furniture flip coming your way! This one was a bit trickier than expected, and less prepping would’ve been better in this case. Read on to hear about the details.

The FBM Find

I came across this vintage wood secretary desk with beautiful dainty legs on FB Marketplace. My home office has shuffled around quite a bit over the years and I thought, why not give a small desk in the corner of the living room a try? I prefer working in the main living and dining spaces anyway, so this seemed like a good fit for me.

The Paint

I’ve have a handful of successful projects with Dutch Boy® Paints (see floating TV stand and moulding wall) and was happy to tackle another with them. This was my first time using their Platinum® Plus Cabinet, Door & Trim paint. I chose the color Warmed Silver 440-1DB to match the adjacent TV stand. It’s really the perfect grayish white that provides just enough contrast with the white walls!

The Process

So here it is: the mistake I made was sanding the desk down too thoroughly before painting. This led to the tannins in the stain bleeding through the paint. To make the process easier, it’s recommended to lightly scuff sand, prime, then paint. Definitely a case where less work is better!

The paint was very easily applied using a Purdy paint roller and brush. It just took manyyyyyy more coats than expected, haha.

The Reveal

After many coats of paint and some elbow grease, this project turned out great! The new color makes the original brass knobs pop. I’m happy that this underused corner is now a beautiful, functional space for us to enjoy.

Materials

Paint: Warmed Silver in satin Dutch Boy® Platinum® Plus Cabinet, Door & Trim
Purdy® paint brush (link)
Purdy® paint roller set (link)
Purdy® paint roller replacement (link)
Desk: FB Marketplace